This Is Annoying
by fire tornado
Summary: "... I think this is a bad time to tell you. Your stomach might not sit well with it." "I don't care, come at me with your story already!" ... "Where are you going?" "Toilet. Sorry."
1. Kagami heard it first

Little story before we move on. I initially didn't want to upload here because of a few factors. But then I'm like "what's the worst that could go wrong?" aaaaaaaaand there you go. My first serious fic (particularly difficult to write because I haven't written in like forever since a year ago or something)

Think I'm going to continue until I'm satisfied or something.

Hope you enjoy.

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><p>Recently, Kuroko Tetsuya obtained Maji Burger coupons so was able to get his favourite vanilla milkshake cheaper today.<p>

However, after he sat down, the only thing he felt like doing was to stare at the cup in front of him.

He felt that whatever little appetite he had left, was now gone completely.

Meanwhile, across the table, Kagami was just stuffing his mouth with burgers, as always.

"I don't feel good, Kagami-kun." Kuroko tried to take a sip of his milkshake, but grimaced.

Kagami Taiga finished his 5th burger in 4 bites, and paused in taking his 6th as he narrowed his eyes at Kuroko.

"Huh. What happened?" The next burger was then unwrapped and promptly stuffed into Kagami's mouth.

"Odd. Yuh hahv bin fheelin ahhrite theesh few daysh…"

"Kagami-kun, don't talk with your mouth full, you'll choke," Kuroko frowned.

Kagami nearly wanted to hit him for interrupting his less than dignified speech but thought better of it. "Geez, stop nagging at me already." He tried to sound angry but failed, resigned to reaching out for his last burger and began to unwrap it. Man, he was so famished…

He did not miss Kuroko's gaze on his face, however.

"You'd normally order 10, but today you ordered 11 burgers," Kuroko pointed out, out of nowhere.

Kagami nearly stopped chewing.

"What's with that? I feel hungrier than usual, that's all!" Before he knew it, the last burger was gone, followed by another gulp of coke.

It was then Kagami noticed the vanilla milkshake across the table.

It's still nearly full.

_That never happened before_, the red-hair thought.

"You don't have much of an appetite today, do you?"

"… Not really, I guess." Kuroko just shifted his gaze to the window and mindlessly watched the people walking by the joint.

Kagami's eyes twitched, and didn't know whether to be concerned or frustrated at his friend's shifty behaviour.

Sometimes the way Kuroko did things were just baffling, and Kagami felt that he would never really understand him as a person, despite the amount of time spent with him. But seeing Kuroko feel so down as to literally not be himself? Could it be something actually… really serious this time?

"Hey."

"… What." Kuroko mumbled, nearly inaudible.

Kagami inwardly sighed and leaned over the table. He also proceeded to note that Kuroko's face was also flushed a little red, due to whatever reason.

_This is getting weirder and weirder._

"Look, if there is something bothering you… uhh I'm all ears okay?" _Shit. This is awkward. What kind of friend am I? What kind of person says that, even_. "No, seriously," he took on a slightly more urgent tone, "It's not like I am good at helping or anything, but if it makes you feel better, you can tell me whatever's making you feel… geez, I've never seen you like that before. I don't even know what is going on."

"Of course not, Kagami-kun, I didn't even tell you anything."

Kagami resisted the urge to facepalm.

"Actually… I meant to tell you, and confide in you only at the time being, but…" Kuroko trailed off, voice nearly in a whisper. "I won't know if you are able to accept whatever I will tell you."

"Huh." Kagami raised a brow. _This is new._ He took another gulp of his coke and considered what was just thrown at him.

"'m pretty sure you can tell someone who has seen quite a lot of weird stuff in the past few years, like me. Don't worry Kuroko, I think even if you killed or poisoned someone, I won't tell anyone. Just shoot." Kagami lifted his hands to emphasise his stand.

Kuroko's face lit up, just slightly.

"… I wouldn't go that far to harm anyone, but do you mean it? What you said."

Another gulp of coke. "Yes."

"After all, what are friends for?" Kagami managed a grin. Ultimately, he really disliked seeing anyone he cared enough for unhappy or not themselves.

The barest of smiles appeared on Kuroko's face. The atmosphere around the duo gradually became more relaxed.

"Alright, so it happened yesterday, no wait, maybe I should just start from the beginning…"

* * *

><p>At first, Kagami was speechless. Heck, he didn't even feel like making any sound. A moment of silence would be more appropriate for whatever he just processed.<p>

"Of all people…" he finally croaked out.

"It could have been worse, if you think about it," Kuroko pointed out with a thoughtful look.

Kagami's face significantly darkened at that thought.

"Maybe Midorima and Kise. Or even anyone else from Rakuzan…"

"Thanks, my appetite is going from bad to worse."

"Ugh, all right," Kagami paused in letting his imagination run even wilder. "Allllllright, maybe he's actually became nice and whatnot after Winter Cup, but first impressions count, so… As much as I would want to say, what, _congratulations?,_ I'm quite unsettled by this."

"Mhm… So am I." Kuroko muttered.

"Well you know… from what I had seen the last time, he looks like some unstable person, and I don't want you to get hurt."

Kuroko just stared blankly at Kagami.

"Oh. Sorry, not helping," Kagami realised. "Okay, to be honest, I don't know how to _help_ you, but your secret is safe with me, until you decide to tell the others, I guess. You can trust me on that." He then held out his fist.

"Not that I disapprove of what you did… Just don't hesitate to tell me if things get out of hand or something alright?"

Kuroko immediately brightened up and gratefully returned the fist bump.

"Thank you very much, Kagami-kun. This means a lot to me, really." Kuroko allowed a small smile onto his face for once today.

"No problem, after all, what are friends f- Wait I just thought of something, does the rest of the Miracles know about this?"

Kuroko had a thoughtful look on his face before he replied, "I guess they might know… something?"

"Wow," was all Kagami could say.

* * *

><p>At least Kuroko finished his milkshake before he reached home.<p>

"I'm home!" Kuroko announced, before he realised his whole family had already left for an important trip.

Well then.

Being all alone in the house has its pros and cons, Kuroko thought as made his way up the stairs and into his room.

For one, he would be left alone, undisturbed, able to do whatever he wanted to a little more freely.

Cons, he would be a little more distracted by his thoughts.

Kuroko chucked his bag at one corner of the room and sighed.

For him, it was a bad time to be distracted.

He glanced at the two photoframes displayed on his table. One was of an impromptu group photo together with the Seirin Basketball team. Koganei-senpai's eyes were closed and Captain Hyuuga was not looking at the camera. Kagami laughed at the photo for days afterwards and nearly got murdered by Hyuuga, however.

The other was a group photo with his teammates in Teiko, taken on his birthday, the same photo as the one he stuck on his locker. Kuroko reached out to touch the frame that surrounded the photo, before slowly tracing it towards the face of the person beside him in the photo.

That was it. The person who had turned his life upside down as of late and significantly reduced his appetite for his favourite food.

Truth be told, he hadn't seen Akashi Seijuurou smile that peacefully in ages. He remembered a similar expression, but one of resignation and relief perhaps, expressed by Akashi towards Kuroko right after the Winter Cup results were announced.

Kuroko had been shedding tears of joy, just like everyone else on his team, but after seeing that expression of Akashi's, he nearly choked on his tears a few moments after the two teams thanked each other, and actually had to use his sports towel to absorb the next wave of tears rushing out.

He had told himself that it was just the pure relief of finally being able to advance into the finals with a team he was proud of being in and actually conquering a team far more skilled and experienced than them, and that he actually, finally, managed to defeat all of his former teammates.

Despite everything, Kuroko hadn't been so sure.

A few hours later after that match, Kuroko had received a call from Akashi to meet him at the stadium cafeteria, for "around half an hour of your time at the very most will do".

It had been just any normal conversation held between two people, catching up and knowing more about their present situations.

Except that Kuroko realised, only much later, that he had been staring at Akashi for a little longer than he had expected.

But it was nobody's fault that the simple shirt and pants he donned on that evening looked _especially_ good on red-head that day, and it was nobody's fault that Kuroko think that way, or so he had assured himself. And when Akashi talked, Kuroko would be a second slower to reply, the lag time for snapping out of the latter's fantasies of paralleling the situation to talking to an ethereal being, and not believing the good luck that befell on him.

After that encounter, Kuroko didn't think it was that much of a good luck. More like rotten luck, because he had sworn Akashi noticed his odd behaviour (a slight tilt of his head had sufficed into making Kuroko suffer an internal panic) but he didn't say anything. And Akashi's eyes. His crimson eyes, astounding and calculating, as always, did not give anything away.

Since when was he so obsessed with Akashi, his actions, his appearance, _maybe even his opinion of Kuroko_, everything? Maybe after that last unforgettable match he played at Teiko Junior High? Maybe before that, when he thanked Akashi for paving his way into the first-string? Maybe way before that, when he held his first conversation with Akashi, when the latter first noticed him?

Kuroko opted to chuck his pillow against the wall. It was all so confusing.

It was not like he cared, it was not in his character to care about anything he did not deem as important as letting his former teammates see the true joy of playing basketball. It was a goal he had finally achieved, and he had been truly glad, for the first time in nearly two years. Nothing else mattered.

That was a lie he would keep telling himself, until lately.


	2. Wandering into Dangerous Territories

I was supposed to study but I caved into temptation. Unfortunately the juicy part isn't in this chapter.

Anyway I hope you haven't been waiting long.

Thanks for those who have liked, followed, comment, taken out a few minutes of your life to read this. Much appreaciated.

I have no idea how to respond to the review so far (mucho apologetics) so have another chapter?

Here's what happened before the Maji-Burger-with-Kagami scene.

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><p>(A month ago from present time)<p>

The birthday celebration for him was meant to surprise. Until Kuroko walked up to the bushes near the basketball court and wondered why they were hiding there.

"I heard some noises," he explained, while Kise was groaning, "Damn, foiled again!" but handed him his present (it looked pricey, from the box itself) while Momoi appeared behind him and presented Kuroko another huge box, which contained a branded basketball, snuggled together with a basketball magazine direct from America.

"From me and Dai-chan!" Momoi explained, and Aomine shrugged, "Yeah… I hope you like it, I searched the entire neighbourhood for those two things with Satsuki, y'know", but Kuroko's face answered everything.

Midorima stumbled out of the bushes, cursing, but the present was well-wrapped, and according to him, it was supposedly a lucky item for Aquarius people that can last for the entire month.

"An entire month? Who told you?" Kuroko asked, quite curious.

"Oha Asa, of course, you idiot." Midorima admonished, before adding an afterthought, "Have a happy birthday."

"Thank you very much, Midorima-kun." Kuroko grinned. Some things just don't change.

Murasakibara held out a large box, "Picked it out just for you, Kuro-chin~ ".

"The cake!" Momoi explained.

"Murasakibara-kun, you didn't have to, I mean, thank you, really." Kuroko was getting more and more overwhelmed by the second.

Suddenly, Akashi tapped on Kuroko's shoulder from behind and nearly freaked the latter out.

"Don't open it until you're home," Akashi pushed Kuroko yet another box, but it was smaller than both the boxes he had received so far.

"It's either fragile. Or a time bomb that only goes off when I open it." Kuroko couldn't help himself. "Thank you very much for the ingenious present, Akashi-kun."

"You wound me," Akashi dramatically placed a hand over his heart. "I don't see any point in killing you. That would amount to losing a _very valuable_ friend."

"Just kidding, Akashi-kun." Kuroko held himself back from laughing with delight at Akashi's reaction, and bowed slightly. "I appreciate the thought, really."

"Huh," Akashi half-snorted, half-giggled.

"What?" Kuroko stared.

"You're laughing at me. I _can't_ believe it."

"Tsch," Kuroko scoffed, like he didn't care his slip-up didn't escape Akashi's watchful eyes. "You noticed?"

Akashi shook his head in disbelief, and took this opportunity to walk a little closer, a little _too _close to Kuroko, such that the latter had to look up at him.

_Nice eyes and lips_, Kuroko idly thought. _Wait, what? Shit. Shitshitshit._

Akashi had locked eyes with Kuroko, staring at him.

Kuroko could practically feel the heat rushing to his face. However he was unable to look away, despite the fact that he could practically hear his heart pounding in his ears, and the fact that he was beginning to feel dizzy. Dizzy from excitement, fear and anticipation at the same time.

Akashi's breath danced over Kuroko's eyes. "Happy birthday, **idiot**," he whispered.

The red-head then took a big step back, and joined the rest of the Miracles in bickering over where and when to cut the cake. As if whatever happened just now, didn't.

Kuroko stood there, momentarily stunned by the turn of events.

_What was that about?_

He then gave Akashi a hard tap on the side of his head, as a gesture to try disregard whatever just happened between both of them, but the sound of Akashi's cheerful laughter (and Aomine's shocked face upon hearing it) replayed over and over in Kuroko's head for days afterwards.

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><p>(Just a week ago from present time)<p>

An email justifying the location for their meetup had been sent to everyone beforehand (except for Momoi, she had an appointment that day and had wailed at her bad luck): "I have suggested this shop as our meeting location as the rest of you will be able to obtain your lucky items for the day… while I get mine. You should consider yourselves lucky."

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?" Aomine's reply sounded furious, and when the Miracles met up, he was making lots of grumpy noises. The rest however decided to humour Midorima just for that day, and wandered around the shop looking at the items.

Kuroko was particularly captivated by a set of Russian Dolls. More like, Russian Cats, brown and drawn to be quite furry all over, but their crimson eyes were particularly sharp and seemed to stare right at him. Their smiles were so wide, they reminded him of a Cheshire cat.

He felt Midorima shiver behind him.

"Thank goodness that isn't Cancer's lucky item for the day," he nervously pushed up his glasses. "It's making me feel a little unsettled just by looking at it."

"Oh? I quite like them." Kuroko went back to staring at the Russian Cats. "You being a collector of quite a few strange things, I thought you could get used to odd items like those, Midorima-kun."

"Hmph." Midorima took that thought in. "Maybe that's because it's Aquarius' lucky item of the day." He then strode away to another section of the shop before disappearing around the corner.

_Some things don't change indeed_, Kuroko thought as he went back to staring at the cats. Like for instance, Midorima being an oddball.

Without further warning, he felt someone looming over him.

"Hello," Akashi greeted, only to get elbowed mercilessly as a result.

"Ow….. Seriously, that was uncalled for, Kuroko…"

"Akashi-kun? Ah, I'm so sorry, you scared me," Kuroko reached out to support Akashi who was doubling over with pain.

"Ow… Did I disturb you? What were you looking at, by the way?" he shot Kuroko a questioning look.

"Those cats," Kuroko pointed. "They're really cute."

"Oh."

A few seconds of silence followed.

"Nice taste in _cute things_, Kuroko," Akashi began to snort with laughter.

"Excuse me, is that sarcasm I hear?" Kuroko narrowed his eyes at Akashi, who looked very close to exploding.

Akashi took a deep breath and restrained himself. "It was just a casual remark. No need to get too worked up."

"Tsk. You're incorrigible," Kuroko mumbled, turning his head away so Akashi would not be able to see his usually poker face heat up a little.

Akashi sighed at Kuroko's remark.

"Really though. Those cats kind of look like me…" he pondered thoughtfully.

"W- That's not true…" Kuroko turned back to the cats.

Oh.

Those red eyes.

"So does that mean Kuroko thinks I'm cute?" Akashi drapped an arm over the blue-haired's shoulders and poked his cheek.

Kuroko's mind blanked out for a second.

_Since when did Akashi decide that poking me was a good idea?_

"Go away Akashi-kun. You're disgusting," Kuroko pushed his face away.

"What? Come on, no one's called me cute before…" Akashi looked as if he was talking to the pillar as a result.

"You aren't," Kuroko enunciated as clearly as possible, "and I don't care."

"… Damn, since when were you that horrible towards me?" Akashi winced at the comment, but was practically clinging onto Kuroko right now, pouting. Like some sort of retaliation.

_Seriously? Has he always been this childish?_

Not that Kuroko was complaining. But Akashi was very close to him, and Kuroko could feel his breath on his neck, sending goosebumps all over.

"_Akashi-kun_," Kuroko seethed. He could feel his self-restraint on the edge of breaking.

"Alright, alright," Akashi caught the tone and removed himself from Kuroko, but not before ruffling his light blue hair, whispering in his ear:

"Cutie."

He then started to walk away. "I'll be outside. See you," Akashi gave a casual wave of his hand and disappeared around the aisle.

Before he had time to react, he heard an absolutely livid man (the shopkeeper, presumably) yelling about a bunch of kids goofing around and not buying anything, followed by Aomine's screaming. All of the miracles were out of the shop in a minute.

"All of you aren't allowed to come back! Except… for this guy!" The shopkeeper pointed at Midorima before slamming the door shut. Midorima 'tch'-ed and clutched even more tightly the newly-acquired lucky item in his hand (it was a jar of beans), as if he had expected the misbehaviour. Aomine just glared at the close door and grunted.

Kuroko took this opportunity to trap an unsuspecting Akashi in a headlock. "I didn't think you knew how to harass people. Behave like the gentleman you always are next time," he told the person writhing in his grasp, and tried not to sound too smug.

"Guh," was all Akashi could gasp out.

Everyone else was giving them questioning stares, but Kuroko ignored them.

The rest of the day went well with casual one-on-ones, two-on-twos and the like, but a few annoying things did happen, like Kise asking him, "Kurokocchi when did you get so violent?", or whatever Aomine whispered, "I can't believe it, you got Akashi Seijuurou in such a pinch… Again. Proud of you, Tetsu," or Akashi trying to flout the rules of behaving oneself by winking at Kuroko whenever he did a really good pass, and when no one else was looking.

"Stop playing with me already, Akashi-kun," Kuroko let out a huge sigh, as he passed the ball to Akashi, for the last time, before they decided to call it a day.

The latter stared at him strangely. "But I'm not!" he exclaimed.

"I have one last thing to say to you, Akashi-kun."

"What is it?"

"Farewell." Kuroko caught the ball and strode off with a yawning Murasakibara.

He heard Akashi do a fake sniffle. "How mean," but he said no more.

To Kuroko, Akashi had been so annoying that day for some reason that he could not help but feel frustrated towards his actions for days afterwards. Really.

Was replaying these scenes over and over in his head, for days after, a result of his frustration then?

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><p>My first time doing something multi-chapter tbh yay<p>

As always, do let me know what you think of the story so far, blabla.


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